Habana starts at 13 for Stormers

Bryan Habana has been selected at outside center for the DHL Stormers when they take on the Hurricanes in their opening fixture on Saturday.

Habana who was surprisingly included in the same position for the warm-up match against the Kings have retained the number 13 jersey after Juan de Jongh did not recover from an injury to his jaw he sustained against the Lions.

Habana will be partnered by the experienced Jean de Villiers on his inside with Bulls recruit, Gerhard van den Heever making his Stormers debut on the wing.

Rynhardt Elstadt also failed a late fitness test and his place will be filled by the exciting young lock, Eben Etzebeth.

As expected, Koster starts in the loose-forward alongside captain Schalk Burger and Duane Vermeulen who also returns after a long injury lay-off.

Stormers team:

15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Bryan Habana, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Gio Aplon, 10 Gary van Aswegen, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nick Koster, 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Schalk Burger (c), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Stephen Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Siya Kolisi, 20 Louis Schrueder, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Marcel Brache.

Tags: Bryan Habana, Hurricanes, Stormers, SupeRugby